S Korea current account surplus hits one year-high of $4.23bn in Oct

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--South Korea’s current account surplus hit a one-year high of $4.23bn (€3.17bn) in October this year amid a slowdown in both exports and imports, central bank data showed on Tuesday.

The current account is the broadest measure of trade with the rest of the world.

South Korea’s current account surplus rose in October compared to a revised $2.83bn in September this year, the largest surplus since $5.49bn in October last year, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement.

On a month-on-month basis, total exports fell by 1.89% to $46.6bn in October, while imports dropped by 4.9% to $42.9bn, according to the BOK.

The goods account surplus widened to $3.65bn in October from $2.1bn in September as imports slowed at a faster rate compared with exports, the BOK said.

In the first 20 days of October, ?xml:namespace>South Korea’s exports of petrochemicals rose by 17.6% year on year to $3.6bn, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE).

Overseas shipments of petroleum products during the same period grew by 29% year on year to $4bn, while exports of textiles rose by 5.6% to $1.3bn, the data showed.